BENEFIT CONCERT BY STEPHEN HOUGH:

 

Stephen Hough, the acclaimed pianist and long time friend of David, has
generously offered to perform a benefit concert in memory of David Grice.

Sunday, November 16, 2008 3:00pm
John Anthony Theater, Collin College, Plano
For more information, visit www.tcya.org

Stephen Hough has the most remarkable range of colour and sound at the piano but the dominant impression from his playing is the simple clarity of the musical idea he is trying to present and the directness with which he communicates it.

It is as though everything, the wonderful legato, the warmth of mid-range chords, the brilliance of the top and flashes of blazing intensity arise from some tangible musical vision suspended in the piano lid just above his unflinching eye, and Hough sits there, alert but not alarmed, reading it with the certainty of an oracle.

 

"This was playing which mesmerised the ear with rich imaginative worlds and hitherto unknown vistas of colour."

—Sydney Morning Herald

"Stephen Hough, a much-heralded pianist from England, brought everything one could possibly want to his interpretation of this familiar work - poetry, theatricality and drama. Downplaying the technical bravura the piece demands, he was more interested in making music and giving shape to the wonderfully contrasting individual variations. Through it all, he kept his playing fresh and in the moment, not letting the piece slide into the cliche it can so easily become."

—Kyle MacMillan, The Denver Post

"He brought consummate pianism, probing musicianship and refined taste to his account of these subdued, ruminative and quizzical works. (…) Mr Hough dispatched the works’ daunting technical complexities with ease."

—Anthony Tommasini, New York Times